


A Market Affair

by likehandlingroses



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 18:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5976175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likehandlingroses/pseuds/likehandlingroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having promised Ariel she would help her, Ursula finds herself feeling like a fish out of water at the Storybrooke outdoor market. In her discomfort, she manages to stumble across something (or rather, someone), she never expected to find.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Market Affair

“Absolutely not,” Ursula said.

 

“Oh, please, Ursula!” Ariel exclaimed on the other line. “I’ve already as good as told them you’ll do it. And you haven’t even heard how much it pays.”

 

“A publically funded farmer’s market?” Ursula chuckled. “I promise you, it’s not even in the realm of what I’d take.”

 

Which wasn’t entirely true. Ursula had once been a position of accepting and refusing jobs on a whim. However, her vocal injuries and resulting surgeries had caused a career setback she was still trying to contain and recover from. Nevertheless, she hadn’t reached the point of singing next to ears of corn and sulfate free meats.

 

“It’s not just a farmer’s market, it sells all kinds of things!” Ariel retorted. “And it’s making more than you think already. Anyway, if you sing, it brings up the overall value. Which makes everyone more money in the long run.”

 

“I don’t need an economics lesson, Ariel,” Ursula said, though she smiled at her tenacity. She’d worried for a time that Ariel might never find anything to do with herself; she had been dreamy and idealistic to a fault, and Ursula feared that she’d come to the same rude awakening she herself did in her own youth. Thankfully, Ariel had managed to find solid ground in a passion for public projects. She’d also found a husband who could almost match her in dogged enthusiasm.

 

“Well, if you won’t do it for the money, do it for me!” Ariel continued. “I’ve been working on this for six months, and we’ve finally got it all put together. I want it to be the best it can be, and with you there it will be.”

 

Ursula sighed. Ariel had an irresistible sort of spirit, and Ursula had never found herself able to refuse the young woman anything.

 

“I’ll do half an hour this week, and then we’ll see.”

 

Ariel squealed over the line. “Thank you so much, Ursula! I’ll do early afternoon, is that okay? And that’ll give me time to show you around...oh, wait’ll you see what we’ve done.”

 

“Can’t wait,” Ursula said dryly, not sure if she’d end up regretting giving in.

 

* * *

 

 

All of Storybrooke seemed to have come out for the premiere of the outdoor market. The entire street was flooded with people and booths.

 

“The stage is at the end,” Ariel said, pointing to a moderately sized wooden stage.

 

Not bad, Ursula thought, though as she watched people milling about and chattering, she wondered whether anyone would notice or care if sang or not.

 

“You don’t like it,” Ariel said, watching Ursula’s face with a frown.

 

“No, I love it,” Ursula said. “It’s a good idea, and a lot of people are here.”

 

“I know, isn’t it great?” Ariel exclaimed, already appeased.

 

“Almost too many people. You need more booths. The selection is seriously lacking.” Ursula stopped at a booth that appeared to be selling costumes. She tugged at one of the coats, a fur-lined travesty that Ursula couldn’t imagine on a runway, let alone a town in Maine. “I mean, what the hell is this?”

 

“Can I help you, darling?”

 

Ursula spun around and came face-to-face with a heavily made-up woman. She knew in an instant that this woman had made the very coat she had mocked. Black and white hair, too much red lipstick, leather leggings...it was like she’d been pulled out of a music video and dropped into town, her wardrobe in tow.

 

_How have I never see her before?_

 

Ursula realized she was staring.

 

“I, uh...no.”

 

The woman’s lips curled into a grimace. Her eyes darted to the sleeve of the coat Ursula hadn’t quite let go of.

 

“No, I suppose not.”

 

Ursula felt herself growing uncomfortably warm. She contemplated apologizing, but that seemed likely to make things infinitely worse. She glanced at Ariel, who had gone red in the face, and was about to excuse herself when she heard a panting noise coming from behind her. She turned to find a massive dog snarling at her. Ursula wasn’t good with breeds, but her best guess was that the bulky, sharp toothed brute was some amalgamation of everything she’d always hated about dogs as a girl.

 

Ursula stepped back and the creature began barking.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry!” The woman cried out, coming in between Ursula and the dog.

 

“I’d wondered if I’d have to tie him to the table...looks like it, doesn’t it? And here I was hoping he’d behave himself. Oh, he doesn’t bite, you know,” she said, stroking the dog with a pale, long fingered hand. “Well, unless I tell him to.”

 

She smirked at Ursula and Ariel before leading the dog to the table where she promptly tethered him. The giant dog was amiable enough around his mistress, and Ursula could see the bold woman’s own features soften as she soothed the animal. For a moment, she found herself wanting to stay. Ariel spoke before she could come to her senses.

 

“Do you make all this?” she asked.

 

“Designed and made. And _sold_ , I might add,” the woman added, giving Ursula a piercing glare.

 

“I’m sorry,” Ursula finally said, now backed into a corner. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

 

“That’s quite alright, darling. It’s dreadful to be an artist without a critic.” She looked Ursula up and down, brow knit. Then she smiled and turned back to her wares.

 

“Though, if you like scarves,” she said as she scanned the area, finally happening upon a patch of multi-colored fabric. “I’ve got some here you can look at.”

 

Ursula couldn’t help but grin at the woman’s attempt to sell them something after everything that had transpired. Amongst the clothing, the woman lit up into something Ursula hadn’t imagined in her initial impressions. She was almost girlish. A handful of scarves already in hand, she came back to where Ursula and Ariel were standing. Giving Ursula another scan, she procured a green scarf from the mix.

 

“See this one’s got a sheen on it, so if you hold it in the sun…you see how it changes?” she beamed and practically threw the thing on Ursula. “Really wonderful stuff. Limited edition fabric, I don’t know where I’m going to get it again. Of course, that does mean it costs a bit more…”

 

Ursula adjusted the scarf, amazed by its vibrancy. It was a bit gaudy, perhaps, like everything else there, but eye catching. And if she paired it with the right things…

 

Ariel interrupted her train of thought.

 

“It’s a gorgeous color on you, Ursula,” she said, turning to the saleswoman. “Isn’t it?”

 

She nodded, and Ursula caught her eye. She stared for a moment before answering.

 

“Lovely.”

 

“You are going to get it, aren’t you?” Ariel asked.

 

Ursula nodded, astounded by her own acquiescence. The woman smiled from ear to ear.

 

“Will you be needing a bag?”

 

* * *

 

 

Before she knew it, Ursula had a black and white bag in her hand and an unreasonable charge on her credit card. The woman-who Ursula assumed must be the Cruella de Vil as printed on the business cards by the register- hadn’t stopped looking like she’d caught a particularly large fish using almost no bait.

 

“Well, there you are, darling. Oh, and take a card, won’t you?” Cruella picked one up and held it out to Ursula. "I have a survey online, and as you’re so free with your opinion, I hope you’ll give it look.”

 

Ursula laughed. “I will.”

 

“Good, good.” Cruella stood up and placed her weight on the table with her hands. “It’s Ursula, yes?

 

“Yes," Ursula replied, with a growing awareness that something more than a monetary transaction had just occurred.

 

Cruella put out her hand. “Cruella.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I see on the card,” Ursula said, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“Good to meet you.”

 

Ursula nodded and started to walk away. Ariel was just across the street at her husband's fish booth.

 

"All done?" she asked.

 

Ursula was about to reply when she heard her name being called. She turned around and saw Cruella already half out of her booth. She waved her back over. Ursula laughed to herself. She understood perfectly now.

 

“Go on ahead. I’ll be right there,” she told Ariel.

 

Cruella smiled at her return.

 

“I’d almost forgotten, darling. If you come back in the next three weeks, it’s a 20% discount. So if you have a mind to look for anything else that isn’t rubbish...I’ll be here.”

 

 _She's not just going to do it, is she?_   Not that Ursula blamed her. Storybrooke was a nice town, but it was small. You didn't want to go around asking the wrong things to the wrong people.

 

Ursula pretended to contemplate the offer.

 

“Well, I’m set to sing up there in about twenty minutes. And then, no offense to everyone here, but I don’t expect I’ll be back here any time soon. It’s not my kind of place, to tell you the truth.”

 

“Of course,” Cruella said in a low voice. “It doesn’t have to be here, you know...I have women coming by my house all the time. I sell most of it there, actually. This whole outdoor venture is new. So just come by. It's all on the card.”

 

“Maybe," Ursula said. "I'm not sure. The scarf is beautiful, but I’m not looking for anything else. Probably shouldn’t have spent so much on this!”

 

Cruella gave a hollow sort of laugh. “Well, you have the card, if you decide you want something.”

 

She moved to walk away, and this time it was Ursula who stopped her

 

“Actually I do have a question,” Ursula said. “About what you have written on here? This number?”

 

Cruella glanced at the card.

 

“What about it?”

 

“It says, ‘for questions and appointments, call.’”

 

“Yes, darling, it does,” Cruella said, frowning.

 

“Any questions and appointments?”

 

“Yes…” Cruella said. Ursula grinned, and Cruella’s eyes widened.

 

“Yes! I keep that phone with me all the time. I only have the one. It’s, uh...it’s my phone. And you can call it. And I’ll answer.”

 

“That’s good,” Ursula said. “Because I actually have to go right now.”

 

“Right! The singing for us all before you never come back here again," she nodded, almost to herself. "Good luck, darling.”

 

Ursula waved the card in the air and strode back around to the stage. Ariel was waiting for her.

 

“There you are! Did she make you buy something else?”

 

Ursula shook her head. “Just gave me this.”

 

Ariel frowned at the business card before shrugging.

 

“As long as you’re in a good mood…”

 

Ursula pocketed the card with a smile.

 

She most certainly would be.


End file.
